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Rivals Accuse Bloomberg Of Buying Presidency; Concerns Raised Over Early Voting In Nevada Caucuses; Deliberations Begin At The Harvey Weinstein Rape Trial. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired February 19, 2020 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church and this is CNN NEWSROOM.
Just ahead, disembarking after dealing with a coronavirus outbreak. The two-week quarantine period finally at an end for some passengers of the Diamond Princess cruise.
The U.N. says the crisis in Syria is reaching a horrifying new level, with refugees facing new threats on the road as they try to flee the violence.
And pardon power: a group of corrupt former officials are among the people getting clemency from the United States president.
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CHURCH: The death toll from the novel coronavirus has spiked once more. China says another 136 people have died across the mainland. A second death has been reported in Hong Kong. The virus has now killed more than 2,000 people and infected more than 75,000 worldwide.
But China says some 14,000 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospital. And a vaccine will not be available anytime soon. The World Health Organization says it will take at least 12 to 18 months.
Meantime in Yokohama in Japan, passengers who were quarantined on a cruise ship for more than two weeks have started to disembark. More than 540 people on board have tested positive for the virus so far but many of those who have not are being allowed to leave.
CNN's Will Ripley joins us now live from Yokohama in Japan, where that ship is docked.
Good to see, you Will. As all these passengers disembark and return to their various communities across the globe, the big fear is they could still be carrying the virus, even if they are testing negative at this time.
What measures, if any, are being put in place to track these people and find out?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is what has some infectious disease specialists really scratching their heads. The simple answer is, as far as we know, none. There is no quarantine protocol for the Japanese citizens who are getting off the ship.
They have letters from the government saying that they have completed a quarantine and now they can go back to their communities, back to school, back to their lives, back to everything. That's good news for them.
But then you have to ask yourself, why is the United States and Canada and Australia and South Korea and Italy, why are all these countries racing to get their citizens off the ship and then putting them in additional 14-day quarantine?
The answer is increasingly clear. This was not a quarantine on the Diamond Princess. This was an isolation, some might say an incubator. Some might say a petri dish, a place where people have a higher risk, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, of getting infected.
We've been speaking with a Japanese professor who has been on the front line of outbreaks for more than 20 years all around the world. We are talking about SARS, Ebola, cholera, MERS -- he says he has never been more frightened than he was yesterday when he stepped on board that ship. Here is why.
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KENTARO IWATA, PROFESSOR OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, KOBE UNIVERSITY: Inside Princess Diamond, I was so scared. I was so scared of getting COVID-19 because there was no way to tell where the virus is. No green zone, no red zone. Everywhere could have the virus and everybody was not careful about it.
There was no single professional infection control person inside the ship. And there was nobody in charge of infection prevention as a professional. The bureaucrats were in charge of everything.
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RIPLEY: I interviewed the professor and I asked why is it a big deal that bureaucrats are running the show. And he said because they are not specialists. They do not really understand how this all works. He says they are beholden to things like politics.
Japan wants to resolve this issue, because they have bigger fish to fry. They have Tokyo 2020 Olympics coming up in a matter of months. But he says passengers actually could become infected on that ship as they walk off. It is totally unclear which parts of the ship are safe, which are sanitized and which are not.
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RIPLEY: You have crew members going back and forth and whatnot. He says it was a mess on board. And now, that mess, he says, is walking right off the ship, not talking about the people but the potential that the people might be infected and not know it and bring it back to their communities.
CHURCH: And of course, everyone is going to want to know where they are going back to, what countries they originated from. As each passenger disembarked Wednesday, they were tested for the coronavirus.
Why was that not done at the very start, on February 3rd, before the virus was able to spread throughout the ship?
This was not thought through, was it?
RIPLEY: The Japanese government initially was testing people on the ship. They said we will not do. It only people with a fever will get tested. The problem with that is a lot of these people are asymptomatic. That's the good news about coronavirus. If you catch it, chances are you have a 98 percent chance that you will recover and probably not be a serious case.
But when you are looking at a fatality rate of 2 percent, which means, statistically speaking, two of every 100 people will die from this disease and you are talking about 3,700 people on the ship, that's a troubling number. That's dozens of people, theoretically, statistically speaking, who could die from this.
They have now started to test all these people. But let me give you the example of the Americans who were evacuated a couple days ago. There were Americans sitting on the bus, about to head to the airport, when they learned that 14 of them tested positive for coronavirus.
They were put in an isolation chamber on the plane. But after they landed, we have been hearing from passengers that additional Americans are starting to test positive and these are Americans who are sitting in cramped seating for 10 plus hours on the flight home, next to other people.
So this is why these outbreaks are so difficult, why they are so scary and why that professor you heard from says there need to be specialists in charge here, not bureaucrats.
CHURCH: So many things to worry about here. Will Ripley, bringing us up to date on the situation so far.
You heard Will mention, they're the American patients in quarantine after being taken off the cruise ship. They're receiving supportive care at a medical center in Nebraska. One doctor is calling it the chicken soup stage. CNN's Nick Watt has the details.
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JERI SERATTI-GOLDMAN, QUARANTINED IN OMAHA: I am not able to leave this room at all.
NICK WATT, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): For 13 Americans evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, this is home for at least the next two weeks. There is a TV, wi-fi, expert care but:
No clothes, no toothbrush, no brush. No nothing.
She is in the quarantine unit right now but Jeri Seratti-Goldman's husband, Carl, has tested positive for novel coronavirus and is in the biocontainment unit. We spoke to him on the phone. He sounds upbeat. He's being treated by nurses and a doctor, all wearing hazmat suits.
DR. MARK RUPP, NEBRASKA MEDICINE: We feel like we are a resource and doing something for the national good. So these are U.S. citizens. They need to come home. We want to make sure that's done safely.
WATT (voice-over): Three Ebola patients were treated here in 2014. The unit is designed and staffed for victims of a bioterror attack or hazardous, communicable diseases like this one.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Although in the United States right now, the risk is minimal, this day it's minimal but if it turns into a global pandemic, we could have a significant problem.
WATT (voice-over): Meanwhile, scientists are still scrambling to assess just how this coronavirus spreads. Earlier this month, researchers found other coronaviruses can survive outside the body on glass, metal or plastic for up to nine days if the surface has not been disinfected.
China's central bank is now deep cleaning or destroying potentially infected cash. Chinese authorities have also now calculated the death rate at 2.3 percent among those infected and that may fall. Right now, it is higher than influenza, which hovers around 0.1 percent but a lot lower than previous viral outbreaks. SARS had 9.6 percent. And MERS a staggering 35 percent.
This morning, just outside San Diego, some very good news for about 160 Americans evacuated from the outbreak's epicenter, Wuhan, earlier this month.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The quarantine, I was -- I feel good. It was great. They did a very good job. So we are very appreciative.
WATT (voice-over): Their two-week quarantine finally over.
WATT: Meanwhile, nearly half of China's 1.3 billion people remain under some kind of travel restriction or quarantine as the global death toll tops 2,000.
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WATT: One notable death on Tuesday, the director of a hospital in Wuhan, the most senior health care worker to die in this epidemic so far -- Nick Watt, CNN, Omaha, Nebraska.
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CHURCH: The U.S. attorney general has told people he considered resigning over Donald Trump's interference with Justice Department matters. That is according to a source close to the situation.
The Justice Department says Bill Barr has no plans to resign. Earlier, Mr. Trump declared himself the chief law enforcement officer of the United States. More now from CNN's Jim Acosta.
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JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Beating his chest over the U.S. justice system, President Trump is standing by embattled attorney general Bill Barr who is coming under mounting criticism for his involvement in the cases against convicted dirty trickster Roger Stone and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But I think he's doing an excellent job. He's a strong guy. I never spoke to him about the Roger Stone situation.
I think Roger Stone has been treated unfairly. I think General Flynn has been treated very unfairly.
ACOSTA: The president insisted he wasn't involved in the Stone case before going on to declare himself the top law enforcement officer in the country even though that's the job of the attorney general.
TRUMP: The attorney general is a man of incredible integrity.
Just so you understand, I chose not to be involved. I'm allowed to be totally involved. I'm actually, I guess, the chief law enforcement officer of the country.
ACOSTA: Mr. President Trump is flexing his presidential powers announcing he's commuting a prison sentence for disgraced Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich as well as offering pardons for former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik, junk bond trader Michael Milken and former football team owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr.
TRUMP: Rod, you're fired.
ACOSTA: Blagojevich, who once appeared on the Trump reality show "Celebrity Apprentice," was convicted of trying to sell the Senate seat of Barack Obama after he became president, a crime the FBI caught on tape.
ROD BLAGOJEVICH, FORMER ILLINOIS GOVERNOR: You know what I mean? I mean, I've got this thing and it's a (INAUDIBLE) thing, golden.
ACOSTA: The president even took a jab at former FBI director James Comey claiming he had some sway over the Blagojevich conviction. But that's not true because Comey became FBI director years after the Blagojevich case.
TRUMP: He was on for a short while in the "Apprentice" years ago. He seemed like a very nice person. I don't know him. But he had served eight years in jail. It was a prosecution by the same people, Comey, Fitzpatrick, the same group. ACOSTA: As for pardons for Stone and Flynn, the president said he's nowhere near a decision.
TRUMP: There is a process that people are going through. These are unrelated situations where people have done a great job with very, very strong recommendations. But we haven't thought about that yet.
ACOSTA: While he's looking for leniency for his friends, the president is hinting he's ready to punish more of his enemies like the mysterious writer of a scathing op-ed in "The New York Times" known as Anonymous.
TRUMP: Together is -- it's not so much to you search.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who do you think it is?
TRUMP: I know who it is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who is it?
TRUMP: I can't tell you that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why not? Why not? Why not?
TRUMP: But I know who it is.
ACOSTA: President and his team are also straining to take all of the credit for the U.S. economy as Mr. Trump's trade adviser claimed the Obama record was "horrible." Even though more jobs were created on average during the last three years of the Obama administration than the first three years of Mr. Trump's presidency.
POPPY HARLOW, CNN HOST: I'm asking it.
PETER NAVARRO, WHITE HOUSE TRADE ADVISER: There is a horrible economy during the Obama years.
HARLOW: OK.
NAVARRO: We had the new normal. We were sending our jobs offshore and Barack Obama himself said that you need a magic wand to bring half a million manufacturing jobs back. And guess what, President Trump was the magic wand, because that's what he did.
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CHURCH: CNN political analyst Nathan Gonzales joins me now from Washington.
Thank you for joining us.
NATHAN GONZALES, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Thank you for having me.
CHURCH: As we all bear witness to President Trump pardoning his friends and felons, what does that signal to you, just days from the sentencing of his buddy, Roger Stone? What is he trying to tell us?
GONZALES: This is powerful. Pardons are one of those powerful tools in the president's toolbox. And it is really no surprise that the president is exercising and utilizing this right.
I think it does send a message to some individuals who work with or for the president, that there is probably a certain level of protection if they remain loyal to the president.
Of the people who were pardoned, not all of them were working directly for the president. But I think he has shown a willingness to exercise this when it comes to his friends.
CHURCH: As he pardoned these convicted criminals, President Trump also falsely declared himself the chief law enforcement officer of the United States.
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CHURCH: What was your reaction to that declaration and the way he used his presidential pardon powers?
GONZALES: Well, I used to say that nothing surprises me anymore when it surrounds the president particularly. But I was a little taken aback.
I think it shows that he believes that he can do anything he wants, whether it is regarding law enforcement and policy. He believes he has the right in the executive branch to do what he wants. And this is just another example.
CHURCH: As he does this, President Trump is making it clear he stands firmly behind his attorney general, Bill Barr, who is coming under increasing pressure to resign his post because of action he has taken in relation to Mr. Trump's buddies, Roger Stone and Michael Flynn.
Where does all this leave the presidency of this country?
Are the Democrats partly to blame for emboldening the president with their failed impeachment attempt?
GONZALES: I think they did what they could, what was in their power to do, based on the makeup of Congress. They only have the House of Representatives. They do not control the Senate. They went as far as they could.
And I think they're frustrated with -- maybe a understatement -- at what the president is doing. He it will be interesting to see what happens when the sides change. Republicans are not going to be in control of the White House forever.
Will they have the same concerns when there's a Democratic president?
How will Republicans react when a Democratic president issues pardons and steps all over the legislative branch? What will the outrage look like?
I anticipate we will see a high level of hypocrisy when we look back at these events that we are talking about with future presidents.
CHURCH: I want to move to the economy for a moment. Mr. Trump wants to take all the credit for where the U.S. economy stands right now.
But the numbers tell a different story, don't they?
I want to bring up this graphic that shows more jobs were created during the last three years of the Obama administration than the first three years of Donald Trump's presidency. But it has to be said, both presidents should be given credit for the current state of the economy. It's in good condition.
But Donald Trump refuses to share that accolade, why?
When the numbers tell the true story there, you can't dispute them.
GONZALES: The president will never share credit for anything. I am not sure. I think Democrats are within their right to present the full argument. I don't know how persuasive it will be.
The fact of the matter is, the president, when it comes to the economy, the current president usually gets more credit when the economy is going well than whoever was in the White House before. And they get more blame when the economy is not doing well.
The president is presiding over an economy that has the confidence of the American people.
When the economy is not, what could happen in the future is, who will he shift the blame to?
How does that impact voters?
That will largely depend on whether he is an office for another year or another five years.
CHURCH: Before you go, I want to talk about Michael Bloomberg. He has risen in the polls. He has actually upset a number of the Democratic presidential hopefuls as they watch him rise. And he has become their target.
How would he go head to head with Donald Trump if that's what happens in the end here?
Of course, it is a long way off. It's a long journey.
GONZALES: I think most of the Democratic candidates are polling within a few points of each other when it comes to a general election. The public opinion around the president is polarizing. Against almost every Democratic contender President Trump is getting between 44 and 46 percent. There really is not a lot of movement within that.
What we don't know about Bloomberg is, since he is such a new entry into the race, how will he perform on these debate stages?
How will he perform when he is being asked questions, rather than just airing hundreds of million of dollars of ads?
So we will enter into a new phase of Bloomberg's campaign, where he will have to be thinking more on his feet rather than being able to be on television.
CHURCH: We will know Wednesday, won't we?
He will be a part of that debate. Many thanks to you, Nathan Gonzales, for joining us, we appreciate it.
We will take a short break here, the Democratic presidential candidates are pushing for votes in Nevada. Coming up, what three of them discussed at CNN's town halls.
Plus, hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees are fleeing the north as the violence continues. A look at the grim conditions, when we come grim conditions, when we come back.
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CHURCH: The humanitarian crisis in Northern Syria is reaching a horrifying new level. The U.N. says about 900,000 people have been displaced as the Syrian government carries out a military offensive to retake Idlib, the last province under rebel control.
Turkey is now sending more troops to the area to counter the offensive. Arwa Damon has more on the humanitarian disaster.
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ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The numbers of those being displaced, those trying to outrun the encroaching war and violence, are jumping dramatically by the day; 60 percent of them are children.
Right now, we are talking about more than half a million children who have been displaced since December. There's not enough humanitarian assistance. The scale of this crisis is by far greater than what humanitarian organizations are able to supply.
Temperatures are freezing and every day, the Assad regime is gaining even more ground, despite statements being made by Turkey, warning Bashar al-Assad's forces to move back to the demarcation line that was meant to create a de-escalation zone inside Idlib.
Listen to the words of the U.N.'s humanitarian emergency support coordinator said talking about what's happening inside. He called the biggest humanitarian horror story of the 21st century.
It is not just the violence that people are fleeing from. They are also deathly afraid of being surrounded by the regime's forces. They are afraid of a widespread massacre. They are afraid of being detained by regime forces and disappearing into the regimes prison system. They are afraid of the regime moving in and cutting off the roads that lead to the border crossings with Turkey. Not because the Turkish border is empty but because they know that when supplies are able to move in, they will move in from those two vital border crossings. They are afraid of the cold, of the children getting sick. There is not enough hospitals. There's not enough medical facilities. They are also being bombed. They are under fire and being forced to shut down as this regime is continuing with its ground offensive being backed by the Russians, especially by the Russian airpower.
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DAMON: People inside asked us time and time again, where are we supposed to run now that there is nowhere that is truly safe to go to? Arwa Damon, CNN, Hatya, Turkey.
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CHURCH: The United Kingdom got a respite on Tuesday from the extreme weather that prompted a record breaking number of flood warnings. As the country begins to catch its breath after Storm Dennis, more wet weather maybe on the way. Scott McLean has more.
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SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Storm Dennis brought gale force winds and mammoth levels of rain to the U.K., this weekend, flooding streets and swamping homes. In some parts of the country, it is likely still to get worse.
The deadly storm battered the British coastline, while further inland, it forced many people to flee to higher ground as rivers burst their banks. The worst of the flooding is in southwest England and in Wales, where authorities went door to door with boats and even used helicopters in rescue operations.
On Sunday, storm Dennis caused a record number of flood warnings and alerts in England, almost 600. Tuesday's weather brought a welcome reprieve for many areas, as floodwaters receded, leaving a muddy mess on the streets but a much bigger problem inside homes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All the furniture is gone. All the carpet is gone. The electricity, gas, everything is ruined.
MCLEAN (voice-over): All of the rainfall came on top of what Storm Ciara dropped just a week earlier. In Northern England, Dennis was the last thing they needed.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were just about getting on track. (INAUDIBLE). MCLEAN (voice-over): While the situation improves in some communities, elsewhere it may get worse. Some river levels are still rising, prompting flood warnings that pose a danger to life and a forecast showing more heavy rain to come this week -- Scott McLean, CNN, London.
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CHURCH: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex may not be able to hang onto the term "royal" for much longer. Use of the word in their branding is under review. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle planned on generating income through their Sussex Royal brand as they work to become financially independent.
The review comes as the duke and duchess are about to launch a nonprofit organization. The couple gave up their titles of His and Her Royal Highness, as well as state funds set aside for renovating their home, after stepping back as senior members of the British royal family in January.
We will take a short break here. Still to come, Michael Bloomberg is not competing in Nevada but he will make his first debate appearance there. And with his poll numbers rising, what will Democrats attack with?
What are they saying?
We will take a look.
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CHURCH: As the Democratic candidates focus on Nevada, a new NPR-Marist Poll puts Bernie Sanders way ahead with 31 percent of the vote. Without entering a single contest, billionaire Michael Bloomberg is surging to 19 percent. Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren still have double-digit support. Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg round out the top six. At CNN Town Hall Tuesday, Sanders, Buttigieg, and Klobuchar discussed a number of issues, including Bloomberg, Medicare for all, and immigration.
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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (D-VT), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I do think it's a bit obscene that we have somebody who, by the way, chose not to contest in Iowa, in Nevada, in South Carolina, in New Hampshire where all of the candidates, we did town meetings, we're talking to thousands and thousands of people working on and said I don't have to do that. I'm worth $60 billion. I have more wealth than the bottom 125 million Americans. I'll buy the presidency. That offends me very much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Universal health care for all is a major campaign issue for you. This is a good idea for those that do not have health care. However, for the individuals that have honed a craft, not only AEA, but other unions, would lose their protective insurance. What would you say to those that have worked so hard to achieve a goal and then to have it is stripped away?
SANDERS: And as a union man, you understand that when unions negotiate, what is the major issue that's up for negotiation, whether or not they're going to take back some of the healthcare benefits, you want a three percent raise, OK, we're going to cut your health care. What we have got to do is what every other major country on earth does, guarantee health care to all people.
Despite now spending more than any other country, we got 87 million are uninsured and underinsured. That means very large premiums that people are paying, co-payments that people are paying, outrageous deductibles that people have out of pocket expenses. And by the way, we are paying the highest prices in the world by far for prescription drugs. In some cases, we are paying 10 times more than the Canadians or people in Europe for the same exact prescription drugs because of the greed and the corruption of the pharmaceutical industry.
What Medicare for all means is that your union is not going to have to sit down and negotiate health care benefits every time you come to the table.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So my question to you is how do U.S.-Israel relations look under your administration?
SANDERS: Israelis have the right to live in a safe and secure nation. But I must tell you this also, that to be for the Israeli people, and to be for peace in the Middle East does not mean that we have to support right-wing racist governments that currently exist to this day.
And let me tell you this also, and I feel strongly about it as somebody who's Jewish, and knowing how much our people have suffered over the years. Take a look at what's going on in Gaza right now. You've got youth unemployment 70 percent, you've got people can't even leave the area. What American foreign policy has got to be about is in the Middle East, bringing the Israelis, bringing the Palestinians together under the banner of justice.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know if you heard Senator Sanders but he would not commit to accepting money from Michael Bloomberg, if Michael Bloomberg is not the Democratic nominee. He's pledged to help whoever is. Would you take his money and his support if you are the nominee?
PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Sure. As matter of fact -- look, right now, obviously, I'm competing against Mayor Bloomberg. We have, I think, different approaches and different visions. But, you know, his philanthropy supported $1 million effort in our community to help low-income people get transportation to go to work. I'm not going to reject that help because it came from a very wealthy person. This is the moment to bring everybody that we can into this effort.
And I promised exactly one thing in return for any contribution, which is we're going to take that contribution and use it to go beat Donald Trump.
What I'm proposing is a national health insurance program that I believe will be so good, that everybody or almost everybody over time will choose it. And if I'm right, then it will eventually become the Medicare plan for everybody.
But I'm not willing to assume that we're right. This is where I part ways with my friend Senator Sanders. He believes that we should require everybody to adopt that plan whether they want to or not. But actually, there's a lot of folks here in the state of Nevada, for example, culinary workers come to mind, who negotiated for good private plans, often traded wages as part of that. Who are we to tell them they have to give it up?
I believe that we should trust individuals to make the right choice for them. But I also believe that support will exist for this plan that I'm proposing to create.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I hate that anybody has to ask this question but Mayor Pete, if you do become the nominee, how are you going to deal with the almost certain flood of personal attacks based on your sexual orientation?
BUTTIGIEG: Well, it'll happen and I'm ready. It's important to recognize that change on these issues and acceptance and equality even though it's got a long way to go, it's also happened to pace that a lot of people are struggling with. And I think for those who haven't quite found their way, all the way to the right side of history, it's important to beckon them in the right direction.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last week Rush Limbaugh made homophobic comments about you. And he said that America is not ready. He doesn't think for a gay president. Now, then Limbaugh -- I don't know if you know, but he gave this whole story today that President Trump told him don't apologize for saying anything you said.
BUTTIGIEG: Oh, great.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Publicly, though, Trump says that he would not have a problem supporting a gay candidate. Do you take him at his word?
BUTTIGIEG: Well, not if he's sending out his supporters to talk in this way. And look, I mean, the idea of the likes of Rush Limbaugh or Donald Trump lecturing anybody on family values. I mean, sorry but one thing about my marriage is it's never involved me having to send hush money to a porn star after cheating on my spouse.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My question is, how do you plan to protect her under-18 population who are illegal immigrants who came to this country as young children? Do you have a plan on helping to fast track them into citizenship, and if so, what are the steps to make this happen?
SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And the answer, of course, is comprehensive immigration reform, which would help not only DREAMers with a fast track to citizenship, but also attract a citizenship for many others. That bill passed the U.S. Senate in 2013. I was part of the Judiciary Committee who worked on that bill. I know as President, I can get things done.
I can get it done in the first year. I don't think we can wait. Because this president, we actually worked out an agreement on DREAMers with Republicans in the Senate, and we were got punched by the Trump administration. This is just another reason for a change. Think about it, immigrants, 70 of our fortune 500 companies are headed up by people from other countries. 25 percent of our U.S. Nobel laureates were born in other countries. Immigrants don't diminish America. They are America.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Let me just follow up with you. You've been in the Senate for 10 years. You've seen a lot of people try this and failed. In 2007, it didn't work under George Bush, obviously, under Obama in 2013. Why would it be different with you as President?
KLOBUCHAR: I believe that if I am a candidate for president, we're going to be able to win big and make sure we keep the House and win in these Senate districts like in Arizona, right, and in Colorado, and make a change. But there are Republicans in the Senate that will still vote for comprehensive immigration reform, and you just need to do it in your first year.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As the first woman president, what will be the first thing you do -- you will do for the women in this country pertaining to equality.
KLOBUCHAR: Economic issues for women and men are key. Getting an increase to the minimum wage, the federal minimum wage that has not happened for literally nearly a decade would be really important for a lot of women workers. Getting childcare, universal childcare would be so key for so many workers. There's so much we can do. But I think one of the amazing things about being the first woman president would be to basically have every little girl in America and really around the world think anything and everything is possible.
COOPER: If I could just follow up briefly. Other countries -- other countries have had women presidents before. What do you think it says about our country that we haven't?
KLOBUCHAR: You know, actually, Hillary Clinton did get the most votes. Let us remember that. So I think that, you know, I think people are ready for it. I know it would be cool to be the first woman president, believe me. And I think a lot of women out there know exactly what I'm talking about.
But I think that the story that we tell, and the campaign that we run, have to be more than about that. It's got to be about people's dreams. It's got to be about the fact that we have a president that can't seem to put himself into the shoes of other people.
I've made it so clear. My pitch to the people of this state and across the country, is that if you are having trouble deciding between filling your refrigerator with food or your insulin prescription, I know you and I'll fight for you. (END VIDEOTAPE)
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CHURCH: Well, the Nevada caucuses may still be days away, but thousands of voters have already cast their ballots. Early voting closed on Tuesday, and now it's up to the Democratic Party to successfully record the data. CNN's Dianne Gallagher has more on some of the concerns raised about the process.
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DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's not just the outcome of Saturday's Nevada caucus that's in doubt, but whether or not Nevada Democrats can pull it off.
SETH MORRISON, SITE LEADER FOR SEVERAL NEVADA PRECINCTS: Obviously a little frustrating waiting an hour on line.
GALLAGHER: One volunteer who has been raising the red flag Seth Morrison, he let CNN sit in on a recent training webinar where volunteers were showing the crucial caucus calculator they'll use to tabulate results. The training session included screenshots of the calculator, but they didn't show it in action, meaning no hands-on experience. That's a concern for another volunteer Christopher Erbe who will be working the caucus Saturday.
CHRISTOPHER ERBE, CAUCUS CHAIRMAN, NEVADA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Having it in your own hand and actually working through it and be able to ask questions about something in the iPad that maybe is bothering you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have not physically touched the iPad.
ERBE: I have not physically touched their iPad yet. No.
GALLAGHER: But Morrison says he's seen enough now to feel prepared.
MORRISON: I am definitely satisfied with the training.
GALLAGHER: Nevada Dems say they're confident.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're doing trainings around the clock. That's going to happen every day up until caucus day.
GALLAGHER: Another concern, after many voters stood in long lines this weekend, they may not have their ballots counted because they either didn't choose all three options or didn't sign their ballots as required. The Nevada Democratic Party wouldn't give a specific number of invalid ballots.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a small percentage of ballots that were missing a signature.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are we talking dozens, hundreds, thousands. Could just clarify that at all?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a very small percentage. The number one goal is for us to make sure that we preserve the integrity of our election.
GALLAGHER: The Democratic Party says it will be up to the campaigns to tell voters with invalid ballots that they can still come back on Saturday to have their vote counted. Melding the information from the early vote with the people who show up for the caucuses Saturday could be tricky.
Because of that, Morrison, who will oversee multiple precincts, isn't sure Saturday will be 100 percent problem-free. Although he says things are improving somewhat.
MORRISON: Probably 60 percent chance that there will still be problems. But it was an 80 percent chance yesterday.
GALLAGHER: It's always about the odds in Las Vegas, right? Now, as of Tuesday, that volunteer there, Chris Erbe, he is going to get his wish. And that's because starting on Tuesday, the Nevada Democrats told me they begin allowing those volunteers to get their hands on the iPads, to take that calculator tool out for a spin, so they become familiar with it by caucus time on Saturday.
The Democrats also tell me that they allow the campaigns to take a look at the calculator tool as well. All of this, of course, in preparation for the caucus on Saturday. Dianne Gallagher in Las Vegas, CNN.
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CHURCH: And the U.S. President Donald Trump is feeling the burn or so would seem. He's been talking up the Democratic presidential candidate. But as CNN Senior Political Analyst, John Avalon explains, it's for a very different reason.
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JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, it turns out a very unlikely fan of Bernie Sanders is Donald Trump.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Bernie looks like he's doing very well. I think people like his message. He's got energy. His people have energy, but they like his message.
AVLON: And that's despite the fact that Bernie Sanders' message is --
SANDERS: We must and we will defeat the most dangerous president in the modern history of America.
AVLON: But that hasn't stopped Donald Trump from consistently pumping up Sanders' chances.
TRUMP: Crazy Bernie, I don't know, maybe he's really surging. He really is. Bernie is surging. There's no question about it. And Bernie seems to be the one the party wants.
AVLON: Yes. It's a message he's also backed up on Twitter. Another surprising Sanders defender is Donald Trump, Jr. who retweeted this video, former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg appearing to insult farmers. Now, Bloomberg claims it was misleadingly edited, but also tweeting it out was, you guessed it, Bernie Sanders people.
And it's not the first time that either Donald rush to Bernie's aid with both repeating the charge that the Democratic primary somehow rigged against him. Speaking of primaries, conservative radio show host Hugh Hewitt went so far as to announce that he would actually vote for Bernie.
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HUGH HEWITT, RADIO HOST: Because it's Virginia, I get to vote in the Democratic Party. I'm voting for Bernie Sanders.
AVLON: And that movement has picked up steam with South Carolina Republicans pushing their people to vote for Sanders in their primary. So why are all these team Trump folks suddenly feeling the burn? Well, as Admiral Akbar might say.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a trap.
AVLON: And the reason is the S word, socialism. Tim Egan writes under the headline, Bernie Sanders can't win and the New York Times, the central message of the Sanders campaign is that the United States needs a political revolution. That may very well need one but most people don't think so. And the numbers would seem to back that up.
Donald Trump does best running against a hypothetical socialist beating him or her by an average of six points, according to a poll taken last summer. But he loses to top tier Democrats including Sanders who actually calls himself a Democratic Socialist in the recent CNN poll. Now, according to Gallup, only 39 percent of Americans have a positive view of socialism. Gallup also found that more Americans said they would vote for a gay, Muslim, or atheist candidate than a socialist.
Meanwhile, a Quinnipiac poll around the same time finds that less than a quarter of Democrats call themselves very liberal. Democrat voters are more moderate, blue-collar, and older than you might think, just by looking at Twitter. So given all of this, there's no surprise that Donald Trump wants to run against Bernie Sanders.
But don't take my word for it. There's an unnamed Trump advisor told Axios. "We're trying to promote Bernie's rise. The campaign has been pumping up the national messaging behind Bernie. When you attack his policies, it gets the media to talk about it. But this isn't subtle folks.
Sanders deserves credit for firing up the base and shifting the debate within the Democratic Party. But team Trump understands their path to re-election will be demonizing Democrats as radical socialists to distract from the President's broad on popularity. That's why they want to run against an actual radical and self-described Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders. It's a trap. And that's your reality check.
(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: And John Avlon with that. We'll take a short break here. Still to come, jury deliberations have begun at the rape trial of disgrace Hollywood heavyweight Harvey Weinstein. We will have the latest from New York and take a look at the testimony jurors are considering. Do stay with us.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, jury deliberations began Tuesday at the Harvey Weinstein rape trial in New York. The disgraced Hollywood producer stands accused of first-degree criminal sexual act, two counts of rape, and two counts of predatory sexual assault. The jurors apparently are finding it tough to sort through the charges and ask the court for clarification on a number of points. CNN's Jean Casarez has been following the trial and has more on the testimony the jury is considering.
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JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Defendant and disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein has sat virtually in silence for four weeks as jury selection followed by 28 prosecution witnesses and seven witnesses for the defense testified before a diverse jury of seven men and five women.
The looming issue in this trial, did Weinstein commit rape and sexual assault or were the encounter is consensual. But at the heart of the prosecution's case or six female accusers of the former Hollywood giant who took the stand one by one to point the finger at Weinstein.
Prosecutors are using testimony from three accusers to try to show Weinstein's pattern of conduct. They hope testimony by actress Annabella Sciorra will help them gain a conviction of predatory sexual assault. But Weinstein's indictments stems from the allegations of just two women, Miriam Haley and Jessica Mann. The statute of limitations has already run out on the other women's allegations.
Haley testified while Harvey was mentoring her during her work as a production assistant on one of his shows. She was asked to go to his New York City apartment in summer of 2006. After arriving, she testified Weinstein lunged trying to kiss her. "I walked backward because he was pushing me with his body until I got to the bed. And I fell backward onto the bed and I tried to get up and he pushed me down."
Next, she described a vicious sexual assault. "I just checked out and decided to endure it, that it was the safest thing to do at that point." The defense argued that Haley willingly maintains contact with Weinstein, including accepting the gift of a free trip to Los Angeles and Haley testified she did have sex with the movie mogul about two weeks after the alleged assault.
"You are not claiming Mr. Weinstein forced you to have sex at the Tribeca Grand, are you?" "No." Haley, however, testified for the prosecution that her sexual relationship with Weinstein was not consensual. Jessica Mann has a similar storytelling the court she had a relationship with her mentor Weinstein, but that she too was assaulted by him in a New York City hotel room.
"Were you able to get out of the room? No. What did you do next? I gave up at that point, and I undressed and he stood over me until I was completely naked. Then he told me lay on the bed." Mann then testified Weinstein violently raped her. The defense brought before the jury dozens of e-mails that could imply a consensual relationship and bond between the two.
Mann's testimony was insistent saying I know the history of my relationship with him. I know it is complicated and different, but it does not change the fact that he raped me. Weinstein pleaded not guilty to all five counts, including rape and predatory sexual assault. Now, the case is in the hands of the jury.
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CHURCH: Jean Casarez with that report. Weinstein also faces charges of sexual assault and rape in separate incidents in Los Angeles. CNN NEWSROOM continues after the short break.
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CHURCH: One of U.S. President Donald Trump's advisers was married over the weekend, and Mr. Trump attended the event. CNN Jeanne Moos takes a look at who else showed up at the party.
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JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Senior Trump adviser Stephen Miller's image is more fighter than lover.
STEPHEN MILLER, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: And you will not deny it.
The President is a political genius.
This isn't a courtroom and I have a right to speak.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Stephen, Stephen, settle down, settle down.
MOOS: But now he is settling down with 28-year-old Katie Waldman, press secretary for vice president Pence. After their weekend wedding attended by President Trump held at his Washington hotel, the bride tweeted out photos captioned, "The most perfect day, the most perfect man, surrounded with more love than we both could have ever dreamed."
But it wasn't all love for Mr. And Mrs. Stephen Miller. Have you picked out a cage for the baby's room yet? A tweet from someone upset over family separation immigration practices. It was not the kind of wedding where you'd expect this and Elvis impersonator. Leo Days' social media is all about his Elvis-ness, although we did notice Leo Days' one man, two kings. He does Michael Jackson too. But Mr. And Mrs. Miller wanted Elvis.
Leo wrote on Facebook. "I performed at a wedding this weekend that was attended by President Trump. It was a great time and experience. OK, maybe not as great as being Elvis and meeting Nixon in the White House, but Leo seemed Eager to tell us about his wedding gig until he recalled he'd signed an NDA, a nondisclosure agreement.
Critics suggested Elvis songs they thought suited the occasion. Going with Jailhouse Rock for that crowd. But we may never know what Elvis crooned while the Millers dance because once you sign an NDA, even Elvis has to zip it. Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
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CHURCH: They picked the right songs, didn't they? I'm Rosemary Church. I'll be back with more news in just a moment. You're watching CNN. Do stay with us.
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